Game apparatus for water skiers

ABSTRACT

A game apparatus for water skiers including a ball device, and a ball-scooping device adapted to be held by the water skier for picking up one or more of the ball devices as the water skier moves past the ball devices floating on the water. The ball device includes a pennant mounted by means of a flexible wirelike member on a ball to aid in visual sighting of the ball. The ballscooping device includes an elongated open framework body portion formed of wirelike members, with one end of the body portion being closed against passage of the ball devices, yet open for passage of water, and the opposite end being open for the reception of the ball devices in the water. A scoop is provided adjacent the end of the open end of the body portion and a fingerlike member is pivotally mounted adjacent the open end of the body member for retaining the ball devices in the body portion. The scoop and a handle are mounted on opposite sides of the body portion.

United States Patent David H. Whltsitt 1963 Pamela Drive, Memphis, Tenn. 38127 21 Appl. No. 806,937

[22] Filed Mar. 13, 1969 [45] Patented Dec. 14, 1971 [72] Inventor [54] GAME APPARATUS FOR WATER SKIERS 1,238,614 1960 France 15,634 1899 GreatBritam ABSTRACT: A game apparatus for water skiers including a ball device, and a ball-scooping device adapted to be held by the water skier for picking up one or more of the ball devices as the water skier moves past the ball devices floating on the water. The ball device includes a pennant mounted by means ofa flexible wirelike member on a ball to aid in visual sighting of the ball. The ball-scooping device includes an elongated open framework body portion formed of wirelike members, with one end of the body portion being closed against passage of the ball devices, yet open for passage of water, and the opposite end being open for the reception of the ball devices in the water. A scoop is provided adjacent the end of the open end of the body portion and a fingerlike member is pivotally mounted adjacent the open end of the body member for retaining the ball devices in the body portion. The scoop and a handle are mounted on opposite sides of the body portion.

PATENTEU HEB I 4 15m FIG. 2

I N VE N TOR. DAVID H. WHITSITT BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION I. Field of the Invention This invention relates to a game apparatus for water skiers.

2. Description of the Prior Art There have been various prior game apparatus which include a ball and catching or throwing means for the ball. For example, the following U.S. Pat. Nos. disclose apparatus for throwing and catching a ball: l,6l5,266; 2,025,995; 2,029,790; 2,075,372 and 2,505,090. In addition, US. Pat. No. 3,] l5,l29 shows a game apparatus for throwing a ball. However, all of the above-mentioned patents utilize apparatus for throwing and/or catching a ball which is propelled through the air, and to applicant's knowledge there are no game apparatus for use by water skiers in which a floating ball is scooped up by a ball-scooping device. None of the devices disclosed in the heretofore-mentioned patents are suitable for, intended for or could be utilized as a game apparatus for water skiers. They are in nonanalogous arts in which the problems are different from those encountered in a game apparatus for water skiers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed towards providing a game apparatus which develops the skill of water skiers and which provides means for making water skiing more interesting and fun than merely being towed behind a boat without any further object in mind. The present invention provides game apparatus which can be played in a number of different ways by water skiers and which adds to the enjoyment and competition among water skiers. The ball-scooping device is lightweight and is of open framework construction so that the water will pass therethrough yet the balls are captured for scoring purposes.

The game apparatus of the present invention comprises a ball device and a ball-scooping device having a handle thereon so that the ball-scooping device can be held by the water skier for picking up one or more of the ball devices as the water skier moves past the ball devices floating on the water. The ball-scooping device comprises an elongated open framework body portion adapted to hold a plurality of the walls in the interior thereof and a scoop attached to the body portion adjacent the entrance mouth of the body portion to aid in scooping the balls into the entrance mouth. In addition, the ballscooping device includes gate means adjacent the entrance mouth which is operable for permitting passage of a ball through the entrance mouth into the interior of the body portion and yet nonnally prevents escapement of a ball from the interior of the body portion. However, when it is desired to remove the balls therefrom, as for example, after the scores have been counted, the gate means can be manually lifted to allow the balls to be removed from the ball-scooping device. The ball device includes a floatable ball, a flexible wirelike shaft anchored at the lower end thereof in the ball at the upper part of the ball, a pennant attached to the shaft adjacent the upper end thereof, and a weight attached to the ball at the lower part thereof to cause the shaft with the pennant thereon to assume an upright position when the ball is floating. The handle means of the body portion is disposed intermediate the ends of the body portion and parallel with the longitudinal centerline thereof so that it may be easily held by one hand of the water skier with the body portion extending substantially horizontally and headed in the direction of travel of the water skier so that the ball devices can be picked up from the water and retained in the device.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. I is a perspective view of the ball-scooping device of the game apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of that shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken as on the line Ill-Ill of FIG. 2 and showing the gate in solid lines in a normally vertical position and shown in broken lines in a position partially swung to a rearward position.

FIG. 4 is an elevational view showing the ball device of the game apparatus floating in an upright position on the water.

FIG. 5 is a partially sectionalized view of a portion of the ball device taken as on a vertical plane therethrough.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The game apparatus of the present invention comprises a ball device 10 seen in FIG. 4 and a ball-scooping device ll seen in FIG. I. The ball-scooping device II is formed of relatively stiff metallic wire or the like and has an elongated open framework body portion 12 having a scoop or forward end 13 and a rounded closed rearward end 14. The body portion 12 includes a plurality of rings 15 spaced along the length thereof and concentric with the longitudinal fore and aft centerline of said body portion 12, and a plurality of wirelike members 16 extending parallel to the longitudinal centerline of said body portion 12 in spaced apart relationship and being fixedly attached to rings 15 to establish therewith said body portion 12 in tubelike form having a fore and aft elongated tubelike interior. The interior of the body portion 12 has an interior length at least equivalent to the sum of the diameters of a plurality of ball devices 10 plus a sufficient distance to allow for swinging movement of the gate as will be better understood in the description to follow, whereby a plurality of ball devices 10 could fit therein.

The wirelike members 16 extend forwardly and rearwardly of the forwardmost and rearwardmost ones of rings 15 of said body portion 12 so as to form the forward end 13 and the rearward end 14. The wirelike members 16 extending forwardly beyond the forwardmost one of rings 15 are flared slightly away from the longitudinal fore and aft centerline, with the ends thereof being fixedly attached to a substantially semicir cular arcuate member 17 having a radius greater than the radius of the forwardmost one of said rings 15 and extending substantially along the lower half of the ball-scooping device 11 establishing a scoop to guide the ball device 10 into the entrance mouth I8. The wirelike members 16 extending rearward beyond the rearwardmost one of rings 15 are curved towards, converge and terminate at the longitudinal fore and aft centerline in a cagelike manner, thus closing off the rear ward end 14 for the arresting of ball device 10 after same has entered entrance mouth 18 and passed along the interior of body portion 12. It should be understood that only the first ball device 10 captured will reach the arresting rearward end 14, the next, as well as succeeding ball devices 10 come to rest one against another forming a straight line.

A sturdy handle 19 is provided for the ball-scooping device 11 to facilitate ease of carrying by the skier as well as an aid in guiding and controlling the ball-scooping device II .which usually is in and out of the water frequently while the skier is attempting to pick up the ball device 10 while being towed on skis behind a fast-moving speedboat. The handle 19 having an elongated handgrip portion 20, mounted on a wire brace 20a attached to a pair of the rings I5, is disposed intermediate the ends of device 11, is centered on the upper half of the circumference of the ball-scooping device 11, and is substantially parallel with the longitudinal centerline of the body portion 12.

The entrance mouth 18 best viewed in FIG. I is the forwardmost ring 15 contained in the body portion 12. Suspended in the entrance mouth 18 is a fingerlike member 21 as best viewed in FIGS. 2 and 3 which acts as a swinging gate in that a ball device 10 is readily admitted past the fingerlike member 21 when entering the ball-scooping device 11 but is obstructed from exiting, thus preventing inadvertent loss of a ball device 10 after once being retrieved. The ball device 10 being just slightly smaller in diameter than the inner diameter of rings 15 simplifies the function of the fingerlike member 21 in that a physically small restricting device protruding into the entrance mouth 18 positively prevents exiting of ball device 10 through the entrance mouth 18.

The fingerlike member 21 is preferably constructed of relatively stiff metallic wireor the like having an upper end 24 and a lower end 25, the upper end 24 being swingably mounted to the top of the entrance mouth 18 for swinging movement from a normally vertical position with the lower end 25 falling par tially across the entrance mouth 18 and swingable to rearward positions allowing a ball device to pass when entering the entrance mouth 18. The means for swingably mounting member 21 is by a pair of washerlike members 21a which are disposed on either side of handle brace 20a and encircle the forwardmost one of rings 15, with member 21 being fixedly attached to members 210 as by welding or the like. The lower end 25 of the fingerlike member 21 preferably is bent rearward from the vertical position in such a manner as to form a closed loop 26.

When it is desired to remove ball devices 10 from the ballscooping device 11, such as for scoring, the ball-scooping device 11 would be held upsidedown. Stated another way, the ball-scooping device 11 would be rotated 180 on its longitudinal axis positioning the handle 19 down as opposed to it being up when in the normal carrying position and with the forward end 13 pointing slightly down. The fingerlike member 21 is then simply pushed rearward until it swings to a position substantially parallel to the longitudinal centerline of the body portion 12, whereupon the heretofore captured ball devices 10 are then forced by gravity one by one past the fingerlike member 21 out through the entrance mouth 18. The closed loop 26 presents a smooth rounded surface to the ball device 10 as it slips past the fingerlike member 21 when entering and when being removed, which tends to prolong the life of the ball device 10 by eliminating the possibility of gouges on the ball device 10 as well as facilitates ease in removing ball devices 10. A mechanical stop 22 is incorporated for preventing forward swing of the fingerlike member 21 substantially beyond the normal vertical position to assure capture of a ball device 10 after same has passed through the entrance mouth 18. The mechanical stop 22 consists of an extension of the upper end 24 of the fingerlike member 21 being bent substantially 90 and rearward from the normal vertical position of the fingerlike member 21 and terminating after overlapping the handle attaching member 20a. The action of contacting and overlapping of the stop 22 with the handle attaching member 20a limits further travel and precludes forward swing of the swingably mounted fingerlike member 21, thus trapping the retrieved ball device 10.

The ball deice 10 includes a ball 31, which is preferably formed of plastic, cork or the like having good buoyance characteristics as well as being structurally strong and which is spherically shaped and may be a variety of colors and/or has numerals imprinted on the surface for purposes of distinction, as seen in FIG. 4. The ball device 10 has a flexible wirelike shaft 32 anchored at the lower end in the ball 31 and a pennant 33 attached to the shaft 32 at the upper end, the pennant 33 being of bright conspicuous color to aid the skier in detection, as seen in FIG. 4. In order to insure that the shaft 32 with the pennant thereon maintains a substantially upright position when ball device 10 is floating, a weight 34 is attached to or embedded in ball 31 at the lower portion or 180 from the shaft as seen in FIG. 5. The physical size and construction characteristics of shaft 32 and pennant 33 are such that neither will interfere with the ball device entering or being removed from the ball-scooping device 11. If desired, mechanical reinforcement, not shown, through the center of the ball 31 from shaft 32 to weight 34 may be incorporated to prevent either from becoming disengaged from ball device 10.

In using the apparatus of the present invention a lanyard 41 (only a portion of which is shown in FIG. 1) is preferably tied on the one end to the ball-scooping device 11 and on the other end to the skiers tow handle which safeguards against loss in the water if inadvertently dropped by the skier. Water skiing games may be played in a number of ways with the game apparatus of the present invention, and one way is as follows:

A plurality of the ball devices 10, each having a different number, and/or a different color, may be placed on the water in either spaced apart straight alignment or may be staggered. Then, the water skier, as he is pulled along by the motorboat, maneuvers in such a way as to pick up as many of the ball devices 10 as possible, either by leaning slightly to one side and using one hand, or by holding the ball-scooping device 11 intermediate the two skies to scoop up the ball devices 10. After replacing the ball devices 10, the next player may then try his skill in scooping up the ball devices 10. The winner may then be determined by-the highest score determined either by adding the total of the numbers imprinted on the ball devices or the winner may be the one picking up the most ball devices 10.

1 claim:

1. Game apparatus for water skiers comprising a ball-scooping device including an open framework body portion having a forward end and a rearward end, said body portion being open at the forward end thereof to provide a forwardly opening entrance mouth adapted to admit a ball and water into the interior of said body portion and including at the rearward end thereof means for providing a passage for water to flow therethrough and for preventing a ball from exiting therethrough, a semicircular scoop attached to said body portion along the lower half thereof adjacent said entrance mouth to guide a ball into said entrance mouth, a handle attached to said body portion along the upper half thereof, gate means adjacent said entrance mouth operable for permitting passage of a ball through said entrance mouth into the interior of said body portion and yet normally preventing escapement of a ball from the interior of said body portion and at least one floatable ball device.

2. The game apparatus of claim 1 in which said body portion on the interior thereof is at least a length equivalent to the sum of the diameters of a plurality of said balls plus a distance to allow for operation of said gate means whereby a plurality of said balls are adapted to fit in the interior of said body portion.

3. The game apparatus of claim 2 in which said ball device includes a flexible wirelike shaft anchored at the lower end thereof in said ball, a pennant attached to said shaft adjacent the upper end thereof, and a weight attached to said ball at the lower part thereof to cause said shaft with said pennant thereon to assume an upright position when said ball is floating outside of said body portion.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 in which said gate means comprises a fingerlike member having an upper end and a lower end, means swingably mounting said fingerlike member adjacent the upper end thereof on said body portion for swinging movement from a normally vertical position at least partially across said entrance mouth to rearward positions to allow a ball to pass rearwardly through said entrance mouth, and stop means for preventing forward swing of said fingerlike member substantially beyond said normal vertical position to normally block exit of a ball through said entrance mouth.

5. Game apparatus for water skiers comprising, in combination, a ball-scooping device including an elongated open framework body portion having a forward end and a rearward end, said body portion including a plurality of rings spaced along the length thereof and concentric with the longitudinal fore and aft centerline of said body portion, and a plurality of wirelike members extending parallel to the longitudinal centerline of said body portion in spaced apart relationship to allow water to pass therebetween and being fixedly attached to said rings to establish therewith said body portion in tubelike form having a fore and aft elongated tubelike interior, said wirelike members extending rearward beyond the rearwardmost one of said rings to establish rearward extensions of said wirelike members extending across the rearward end of said body portion to block exit of a ball therefrom, the forwardmost one of said rings with said wirelike members defining an entrance mouth adapted to admit a ball into said tubelike interior of said body portion, said wirelike members extending forwardly beyond the forwardmost one of said rings to establish forward extensions of said wirelike members, a substantially semicircular arcuate member having a radius greater than the radius of the forwardmost one of said rings, said arcuate member being fixedly attached to said forward extensions at the forward ends thereof and extending substantially along the lower half of said ball-scooping device to provide a scoop to guide the balls into said entrance mouth, handle means attached to said body portion on the upper part thereof; at least one floatable ball device received in said interior of said body portion and gate means in said entrance mouth for controlling movement of said at least one ball device therethrough.

6. The game apparatus of claim 5 in which said ball device includes a ball and means supported from said ball including a pennant.

7. The game apparatus of claim 5 in which said gate means comprises a fingerlike member having an upper end and a lower end, means swingably mounting said fingerlike member adjacent the upper end thereof on said body portion for swinging movement from a normally vertical position at least partially across said entrance mouth to rearward positions to allow a ball to pass rearwardly through said entrance mouth, stop means for preventing forward swing of said tingerlike member substantially beyond said normal vertical position to normally block exit of a ball through said entrance mouth.

8. The game apparatus of claim 5 in which said handle means includes an elongated handgrip portion disposed intermediate the ends of said ball-scooping device and substantially parallel with the longitudinal centerline of said body portion in spaced relationship thereabove U i i 

1. Game apparatus for water skiers comprising a ball-scooping device including an open framework body portion having a forward end and a rearward end, said body portion being open at the forward end thereof to provide a forwardly opening entrance mouth adapted to admit a ball and water into the interior of said body portion and including at the rearward end thereof means for providing a passage for water to flow therethrough and for preventing a ball from exiting therethrough, a semicircular scoop attached to said body portion along the lower half thereof adjacent said entrance mouth to guide a ball into said entrance mouth, a handle attached to said body portion along the upper half thereof, gate means adjacent said entrance mouth operable for permitting passage of a ball through said entrance mouth into the interior of said body portion and yet normally preventing escapement of a ball from the interior of said body portion and at least one floatable ball device.
 2. The game apparatus of claim 1 in which said body portion on the interior thereof is at least a length equivalent to tHe sum of the diameters of a plurality of said balls plus a distance to allow for operation of said gate means whereby a plurality of said balls are adapted to fit in the interior of said body portion.
 3. The game apparatus of claim 2 in which said ball device includes a flexible wirelike shaft anchored at the lower end thereof in said ball, a pennant attached to said shaft adjacent the upper end thereof, and a weight attached to said ball at the lower part thereof to cause said shaft with said pennant thereon to assume an upright position when said ball is floating outside of said body portion.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1 in which said gate means comprises a fingerlike member having an upper end and a lower end, means swingably mounting said fingerlike member adjacent the upper end thereof on said body portion for swinging movement from a normally vertical position at least partially across said entrance mouth to rearward positions to allow a ball to pass rearwardly through said entrance mouth, and stop means for preventing forward swing of said fingerlike member substantially beyond said normal vertical position to normally block exit of a ball through said entrance mouth.
 5. Game apparatus for water skiers comprising, in combination, a ball-scooping device including an elongated open framework body portion having a forward end and a rearward end, said body portion including a plurality of rings spaced along the length thereof and concentric with the longitudinal fore and aft centerline of said body portion, and a plurality of wirelike members extending parallel to the longitudinal centerline of said body portion in spaced apart relationship to allow water to pass therebetween and being fixedly attached to said rings to establish therewith said body portion in tubelike form having a fore and aft elongated tubelike interior, said wirelike members extending rearward beyond the rearwardmost one of said rings to establish rearward extensions of said wirelike members extending across the rearward end of said body portion to block exit of a ball therefrom, the forwardmost one of said rings with said wirelike members defining an entrance mouth adapted to admit a ball into said tubelike interior of said body portion, said wirelike members extending forwardly beyond the forwardmost one of said rings to establish forward extensions of said wirelike members, a substantially semicircular arcuate member having a radius greater than the radius of the forwardmost one of said rings, said arcuate member being fixedly attached to said forward extensions at the forward ends thereof and extending substantially along the lower half of said ball-scooping device to provide a scoop to guide the balls into said entrance mouth, handle means attached to said body portion on the upper part thereof; at least one floatable ball device received in said interior of said body portion and gate means in said entrance mouth for controlling movement of said at least one ball device therethrough.
 6. The game apparatus of claim 5 in which said ball device includes a ball and means supported from said ball including a pennant.
 7. The game apparatus of claim 5 in which said gate means comprises a fingerlike member having an upper end and a lower end, means swingably mounting said fingerlike member adjacent the upper end thereof on said body portion for swinging movement from a normally vertical position at least partially across said entrance mouth to rearward positions to allow a ball to pass rearwardly through said entrance mouth, stop means for preventing forward swing of said fingerlike member substantially beyond said normal vertical position to normally block exit of a ball through said entrance mouth.
 8. The game apparatus of claim 5 in which said handle means includes an elongated handgrip portion disposed intermediate the ends of said ball-scooping device and substantially parallel with the longitudinal centerline of said body portion in spaced relationship thereaboVe. 